For the second offseason in a row, the Brandon Wheat Kings have swung a deal with the Swift Current Broncos that will give their blue line a big boost in size and experience. And this time, they’ve brought in someone who’s already well familiar with the team and his new teammates.
The team announced this morning they’ve acquired 2007-born defenseman Josh McGregor from the Swift Current Broncos as part of a three-team trade that also involved the Lethbridge Hurricanes. The Broncos acquired 2007-born forward Hudson Kibblewhite from Lethbridge, while the Hurricanes picked up a fifth round pick and the rights to 2007-born forward Jake Stuart from the Wheat Kings. Brandon also added a 2028 seventh round pick from Lethbridge in the deal.
“He has a veteran presence, it will be his third year in the league coming in,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “He logged a lot of minutes in Swift Current. They were kind of in a rebuild last year and we feel Josh can come in and be a solid contributor on our back end and bring a veteran presence.”
Last season, despite playing on a Broncos team that finished with the fewest goals (179) in the WHL, McGregor finished with 20 points in 62 games. The 6-foot-3 left handed defenseman may have more offensive upside yet, but won’t need to shoot the lights out to be valuable either.
“I think there’s potential,” Murray said. “We view Josh as being a guy that can move pucks. We think he needs to be a defense first guy, but a lot of times good defense leads to offense so we think he has the ability, with our forward group, to put up some numbers. But that’s not the main reason why we brought him in. He’s a veteran presence that we’re looking to carry some responsibility defensively.”
Veteran presence will matter a great deal to the Wheat Kings on the back end this coming season. When 2025-26 began, only Grayson Burzynski had more than 100 games of WHL experience among their blueliners. This season, the team could have as many as four such players.
“It helps to have veteran presence and it also helps to have some youthfulness injected into the lineup too,” said Murray. “I think we have a nice combination of both. We’re excited about our young prospects as well as having the ability to throw out some veterans at important times of the game.”
McGregor joins a team with which he will have plenty of familiarity. Most notably, he was part of the 2023-24 Brandon U18 AAA Wheat Kings team that won a provincial championship, led in scoring by current Wheat Kings Jaxon Jacobson and Brady Turko.
“One of the things you look at when you make a trade is what kind of person you’re bringing into the locker room,” said Murray. “Josh is a guy that is a really good team guy and I think he’ll fit right in. He knows all the guys he played with at the U18 level but at the same time, he skates in Brandon and there are a lot of other guys I’m sure he’s familiar with.”
Murray added that between the addition of McGregor, the returning players available, and the influx of highly touted young prospects, the expectation is that training camp will once again see high levels of competition on the back end.
“We feel we have seven, eight, or nine guys who are WHL defensemen,” he said. “It’s going to be competitive not just in training camp but throughout the year to be an everyday player. I think that will be the best for everybody.”
